Coach praises mom of the team
Olympic champion Jamaica leaves the bobsleigh
04/13/2022, 3:28 p.m
Next year’s world championship will take place without her: bobsleigh pilot Mariama Jamanka is ending her career. After her silver medal from the Olympic Games in Beijing, she now wants to start studying. The national coach appreciates the performance of the 31-year-olds.
Olympic bobsleigh champion Mariama Jamanka has announced her retirement a good two months after winning a silver medal in twos at the Beijing Winter Games. The 31-year-old announced this in a press release. “Now is the time for me to retire and I’m glad I can do so after an Olympic silver medal,” said Jamanka. She now wants to start studying in her hometown of Berlin.
Jamanka had already indicated her withdrawal from competitive sports in Beijing, but left a back door open for participation in the 2023 World Cup in St. Moritz. The time until the next Winter Games in Cortina d’Ampezzo/Milan in 2026 is “definitely too long”, but St. Moritz is “always worth a trip”. For a start at the World Championships, Jamanka would have had to look for a new brakewoman, because Alexandra Burghardt, as currently the best German sprinter, will once again concentrate on her track and field career.
“In my career as an athlete, I’ve had a lot of great moments and been able to celebrate great sporting successes,” said Jamanka. Ultimately, these were “never just my results, but the result of hard teamwork and great sacrifices”: “Without my family, my private environment, my coaches, my club, the Bundeswehr, the sponsors and teammates, many things would not have been possible. I’m for that I am very grateful.”
“She had to fight a lot”
“With Mariama, an outstanding athlete and a special person is leaving,” national coach René Spies praised Jamanka’s achievements in a statement. She was the mom of the team that held the store together. “It’s sad for us, but I understand her decision. It hasn’t always been easy for her in recent years, she had to fight a lot and was rewarded again with the silver medal at the Olympics,” said Spies, emphasizing that Jamanka was also a great enrichment for himself: “She always helped me in my work.”
Jamaica emerges as one of the most successful pilots in bobsleigh history. Before silver in Beijing, the sports soldier had won gold at her Olympic premiere in 2018 in Pyeongchang. Her track record also includes two World Championships and three European Championships as well as six successes in World Cup races.